Finding Time
by Bytemite
Summary: It had all seemed so simple: beat the slimeball, win over the girl and the rest of the world. Then everything happened. Slightly AU. Spoilers.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** Not mine. Credit Joss Whedon, Zack Whedon, Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, and the cast.

I think the series was incredible; really, Act 3 was the only way it could have concluded. That said, here's a revision for a more open ending that I can build on.

Extraneous explanation/ description apologies to those of you who saw the series, I'm hoping this will also be accessible for the people who haven't seen it. Just a forewarning, I'm not going to refer to Dr. Horrible as Billy except in select circumstances because there's no way of knowing if that's his real name or just an alter-ego. He calls himself Billy once, but that seems to be directly referring to something Penny (who believes his name is Billy) said to him.

Moist, Dr. Horrible, and Captain Hammer (he'll be here too, and I'll try to be fair) are easy to write, both as personalities and in dialogue, because they're all well established. But Penny is tricky, because what is known about her character has to be pieced together. Still, I'll try to do her wise/naïve cheerful/sad modest shy champion-of-the-people archness justice.

The prologue's pretty short, but the next chapter's longer, I promise.

* * *

Prologue

Soft cries of frightened citizens hiding behind cheap aluminum chairs followed the accidental explosion, joined by the unrestrained wails of their supposed protector from the stage where he had landed after the backfire. The dark-haired musclehead scrambled to his feet and threw some poor woman out of his way as he fled in pain.

The one remaining light in the reception hall flickered as a flaxen-haired figure in a white labcoat pulled himself up the leg of his tripod-mounted Freeze Ray, coughing and waving away the smoke. Dr. Horrible wrenched the time-distorting gun from its stand, suspecting strongly that because of that extra precaution, his weapon had powered down preemptively and freed his antagonist from stasis.

His other gun, the Death Ray, had been malfunctioning, and his brainless nemesis had tried to shoot him with it anyway. The resulting metal fragments had peppered the reception hall, but he didn't see anyone with any serious injuries…

No. Oh NO. She was _dating_ Captain Hammer, of COURSE she'd be there for the unveiling of his stupid statue! He ran to her side as she laid propped up against the wall, impaled by the shards and struggling to breathe. She was just trying to help the unfortunate, to give hope to a world gone mad. She was _innocent_.

Penny blinked green eyes in recognition as he shook her gently, pleaded for her to hold on, brushed back a strand of her auburn hair. "Billy?"

She was running out of time. So, Freeze Ray in hand, he stopped it for her.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Sunlight shone gold through the curtains, and Penny smiled drowsily at the cheerful sight before unsuccessfully trying to roll over and snuggle into her pillow. Jolted painfully aware, she found the bandages wrapped around her torso and then the IVs in her hand, heard the steady beep of the heart rate monitor.

She still wasn't entirely sure what had happened; there had been some sort of interruption, but she couldn't get a clear view and suddenly people were screaming and rushing for cover. She pressed the nurse call button, and the response was almost instantaneous. Not just a nurse, but doctors and police officers promptly flooded her room.

The senior doctor gestured for the others to let her speak first, shooing them back so as not to overwhelm the patient. "Do you remember why you're here?" The lady doctor asked, and Penny slowly shook her head. The policemen exchanged glances, frowning. "That's all right," she told her soothingly, "That can happen after trauma. There was an explosion at the homeless shelter dedication two days ago."

"Was anyone else hurt?" Penny wondered in alarm.

The doctor considered her question. "Captain Hammer admitted himself to the hospital the same day. His injuries were minimal; he reportedly was able to walk away from the incident and his unusual muscular density acts much like Kevlar."

"That's good," she sighed, relieved, and quickly amended, "Not that anyone was hurt, but that everyone is okay." Her face fell at the somber looks she got in response. "Uh oh," she murmured to herself, and braced for the bad news.

"Your injuries, on the other hand, were very serious," she was told, "You were hit by shrapnel, which imbedded in the left ventricle wall of your heart. We repaired the ruptures and drained the excess fluid from your chest cavity, but you will need to be monitored thirty days for further blood loss and to make sure you don't open back up. Frankly, it's amazing that you're alert as you are right now, but it's even more incredible that you survived at all."

Penny sank back into the mattress, stunned. One of the policemen approached her, carrying a large black and silver… something, she supposed it was a gun. "This is one of the more recent inventions of a minor local villain who calls himself Dr. Horrible. It disrupts the flow of time for anyone affected by it. He left it behind when he brought you in."

"We're not sure why he decided to intervene," his partner added, "It's possible he may have worse plans for you and Captain Hammer. We're doing our utmost to ensure your security, but we really need to catch him. Anything you can tell us would be appreciated."

She looked over a grainy photograph taken at distance of a lean, slender man with a thin face and light hair. His features were blurry and obscured by a pair of welding goggles. "I'm sorry," she apologized, "he doesn't look familiar."

Disappointed, the officers nodded. "Thank you, miss. We'll be around in case you come up with anything." The room emptied, save for one nurse, who began seeing to the painkiller drips as she chatted amiably about topics ranging from her comfort, her treatment, the incident, and Captain Hammer – mostly the later.

The nurse scowled abruptly, and picked up a small Styrofoam bowl littering the end table by her bed. She stormed to the door, threw it open and bellowed, "Okay, who left the frozen yogurt to melt all over everything?!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The aspiring villain glared wearily at the camera mounted on his computer, holding up the front page of the NPN News print edition, 'California' Section. "You've probably all figured out by now why I haven't been blogging recently. I'm crashing with a friend until everything calms down."

A decorative jar of shells situated on the glass desk beside him and dozens of little crystalline sea horses received a moment of scrutiny. "It took a while to get used to all the dead marine animals everywhere, but the aquarium is actually pretty boss. I'm thinking of getting one for my lair when I make it big." He slid his chair aside briefly, nodding in approval at the fake tropical reef and the swimming, twirling, vibrantly coloured fish behind him. "Not like he can get a pet cat anyway. Or even pet one, for that matter. Fish make sense." He trailed off thoughtfully, blue eyes ringed with bruises drifting to the ceiling, and made a _pop_ sound with his lips.

"Anyways," he continued after a moment, moving back in front of his computer, "No e-mails today. I already know what you're all asking." Frustration and indignance seeped into his voice. "The answer is NO. I have NOT gone hero. You take one person to a hospital, and suddenly poof, there goes all your street cred." He shook his head in consternation. "I've said it before; you can't make lasting social progress within a corrupt system without watching your efforts become corrupt too. And, _screw_ that."

"Captain Hindenberg is MIA. So's his statue, if anyone cares, which they don't. Seriously, a statue? Please. Who did the mayor rip off to pay for that one? Schools? An orphanage? Last thing everyone needs is _two _useless likenesses of _that_ utter disaster."

"But with him out of the picture, this means some rapid consolidation of power and high profile heists. Or it _would_, if I were getting my Freeze Ray back from those doctors anytime soon." He smirked sinisterly. "But don't worry, I have plenty of other plans."

The webcam safely switched off, he sighed, and picked up the newspaper again. "**'Horrible' Explosion Leaves Community Baffled**," the main headline screamed at him, "Captain Hammer's girlfriend in stable condition." Instead of lingering on the extra quotation marks and their meaning, he gazed at her photograph. Carefully, he turned the paper face down, then stood and paced, his lyrical voice trembling through the apartment.

"_This terrible ache…  
Wish I could take  
away  
your pain  
Will I ever see you again?_

_What day is it  
down in this pit?  
I can't see.  
Thought I could win by force  
I didn't know the course  
after all._

_I no longer know  
Is that my own  
echo?  
I'm sorry  
What was I becoming?_

_What day is it  
down in this pit?  
I can't see.  
Please forgive me because  
It wasn't you that I was  
aiming for.  
Thought I'd have it all  
then I saw you fall.  
No, it was me,  
Ohh, it was…_ Aaah!_"_

He nearly walked into a black-haired unshaven character in a damp blue t-shirt with a passing resemblance to a rodent, and squeaked in surprise, interrupting his song. "Uh, hey, Moist," he greeted, flustered and slightly embarrassed, "didn't know you were here."

"Yeah," his friend agreed, the ever-present note of uncertainty in his voice slightly more obvious than usual. Moist shrugged imperceptibly to himself and headed for the kitchen area. By rule, a person didn't become a mad scientist if they didn't have some eccentricities, such as random musical tendencies. "It's all right."

He dropped into a seat by the counter separating Moist's living room from the alcove. "How's Pummeler?" he asked, self-composed again and rather cheerful considering a few moments prior.

"Pink," the henchman answered casually as he struggled with the slippery handle to the fridge. "Upset that you haven't called. Worried." His friend set down a bottle of water on the countertop and studied him with concern. "You okay, man?"

Well, he'd just about killed the sweetest, most gentle girl in the world (let's not even talk gorgeous), and now the Evil League of Evil was probably after him, so… "Sure," he lied through his teeth, then audibly swallowed his own fib. He quickly changed the subject. "I heard a special delivery for Berkeley is coming through today from the airport. Experimental compounds."

Moist blinked. "Oh. Cool. …Are you up for that?"

"Psh," he scoffed, "courier again. It'll be easy." The city never seemed to learn. "Besides, got to start building up the arsenal again sometime, and the longer I put it off… You know." Moist nodded in understanding. "Speaking of which… Feel like coming along? I'm kind of low on snazzy tech."

"Hey, you still owe me for the last three you did solo," Moist pointed out.

He grinned at his friend's loyalty. "Good, then we better get going." The henchman followed, glad that the villain seemed like he was going to be just fine.

**AN:** I don't like to add author's notes when the story is in progress, but that last sentence (paragraph) and the lyrics/ rhythm scheme need work. I'm hoping I'll get a reviewer who will offer an alternative or who wants to be my beta reader.

I can't explain the frozen yogurt reference very well, but it's from the musical. If you've gotten this far through my story, you might as well go watch the real thing. The songs are better, anyway. I'll wait.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

'Reconnaissance,' he called it, as the henchman and the villain watched the private plane taxi along the runway. Anyone else would describe it as 'hesitation.'

Moist was wondering again if it was too soon. If he was perfectly honest with himself, so was he, and from the way his accomplice was staring at him, apparently his friend knew he wasn't entirely sure.

Sometimes if he stopped to listen he could hear the screams again; all of them, even those that hadn't been aloud. He saw what might have happened, and when he closed his eyes, he couldn't get away from the image. His eyes were clenched shut tightly now, trying to banish the ghosts.

What had he been thinking? What was he doing now?

The whisper he always heard before an operation asked him if this was what he really wanted. It had more influence this time. Another, just as quiet answer reminded him that it was for her. A third informed him he could never impress her this way, and expressed doubt he had any chance with her at all. All were drowned out by Dr. Horrible, laughing at his weakness.

"Doc?" Moist prompted, worried. "Listen, Doc, if you're not–"

"All right," Dr. Horrible proclaimed authoritatively, the persona and smirk draping over him as easily as his costume. That was all just a minor set-back (_it wasn't_, they protested futilely), and he had to fix the world. He rummaged through his dufflebag, removed the mock-up gun he'd cobbled together on the way that didn't do anything but intimidate. At least it wouldn't explode. "That's probably enough time for them to unload. Ready?"

He paused, considering, then told Moist to stay back. Thinking on his recent luck, suddenly it didn't seem like such a great idea to have backup. Even if his friend would have gotten in trouble for letting someone else drive the Henchman Union issued getaway car.

His labcoat felt bigger than usual as he marched up to the remote hangar, like it didn't quite fit anymore. He tried to ignore the treacherous sensation, the itchy feeling along his arms. Moist was still watching him warily.

Airport staff was already scattering. There was the transport van, idle, almost staring him down. The driver side door opened, and the muzzle of his oversized weapon twitched to cover it. Unfazed, a pale man in an unseasonably warm fur winter parka moved closer, stopping just within the shade of the hangar as the two regarded each other.

"Freeze, doctor," the super-powered ice manipulator warned, then smirked at the gun. "Is that another Death Ray? I heard the last one blew up."

His expression darkened with an annoyed tic, his raccoon eyes (that punch to the face Captain Hammer delivered a few days ago had been _painful_) not helping to brighten it any. "You'd know all about that, wouldn't you Johnny?"

Johnny Snow bristled. "Especially since the Death Ray was _my_ idea."

"You've been categorized as a tech-specialist all of three weeks, and you think you've got a patent on death rays?" Dr. Horrible breathed a derisive laugh. "Pretending you know anything about science isn't going to make me your nemesis, Snow. Stick with the cryomancy." He frowned, perplexed by his scowling opponent. "Why are you here, anyway?" he questioned, making it clear by his tone that he really wanted to ask who in their right mind would _hire_ the wannabe.

"Don't you know?" the walking parka taunted, holding up a standard metallic briefcase used for the transport of samples, "These chemicals require refrigeration." The ice manipulator grinned. "And so do you."

An icebeam shot over his shoulder and he didn't even flinch. Johnny just managed to mask any irritation over the lack of response. "I was told you might show up to try to steal them, but then it is like you to get… Cold feet."

Dr. Horrible merely stepped back from the ice patch that had formed on the ground. "Okay, enough with the bad one-liners already," he grumbled, annoyed. "Did you fail bantering 101 at super night school or something?"

This time, the cryomancer was actually aiming for him, and he dove out of the way. "I waited every day for an entire month at that park for you to show up and face my challenge," his enemy growled, serious. "Finally, I'm given a chance to prove myself against you, and you're not even going to fight back? You better hope that gun of yours works after all, or I'm going to stop you cold." Snow started super cooling the air to charge another beam. After a few moments, the wintery warrior fell over unconscious, encrusted by ice crystals.

That could have ended badly. "You all right?" he called to his 'evil moisture buddy,' who was now standing just out of range of the hypothermic and utterly drenched Johnny Snow. "You didn't catch any of that, did you?" He trotted over breathlessly, grabbed his friend's shoulder.

"Fine, I'm fine," Moist assured him, "I got his parka while he was ranting, and got out of the way." The two of them mulled over an entirely new set of problems. "So… How are we going to get the briefcase from him now?"

Dr. Horrible was more concerned that the entire encounter had been set up, and he had some idea who was responsible. "Wake him up," he said, more to himself than in response to the question directed to him. He wiped the gloved hand that had come into contact with his damp friend on his clothes, crouched down, and slapped the human icicle a couple of times.

Snow groaned quietly and stuttered something incomprehensible. Dr. Horrible rolled his eyes. "It's 90 degrees out. You'll be fine in a few minutes." He shifted his labcoat aside, dug into his pants pocket for his phone, browsed the internet for the number he was looking for, and dialed the College of Chemistry at Berkeley. "Hey, yeah. I'm a courier, just calling to confirm a delivery today for your department... Okay, I'll hold."

He handed the phone to the defeated man, who eyed it suspiciously. "When someone answers, repeat what I just said." Snow glowered, but finally gave in and did as he was told.

"…You're not?" The ice man shut the phone and gave it back, looking bewildered. "They said they're not expecting a delivery."

"That's because whatever's in that briefcase was never meant to reach its destination," he explained grimly. "If I were you, I'd find out what's in it, and find someone who can get rid of it safely."

"How?" Snow asked fearfully.

Dr. Horrible snorted in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? You're at an airport, Johnny. Get it x-rayed," he advised, exasperated, as he stood to leave. "Come on, Moist."

"Doctor!" the annoying amateur shouted after him, and as much as he wanted to just keep going, he stopped. "Thanks," the other man offered awkwardly.

"Don't mention it," he responded, "Ever." He glanced over at his friend as they crossed over the tarmac to the hole they'd cut into the chain link fence and their ride parked nearby. "That goes for you, too. Don't say anything. Don't remind me. I know what you're going to ask; don't. Let's just get out of here and write this off as a loss." Moist shrugged and unlocked the car doors.

A newscast cut in as the engine started. She was awake, he learned, but there was far more uproar that her guarded room had been broken into. His stricken yet carefully blank expression was one of the more painful that Moist had ever seen; somewhere between horror and sorrow with a generous heaping of emptiness. The radio was carefully turned off. "Much more of this and people might start asking if you're not really an anti-hero," Moist teased, putting the car into gear.

That snapped him out of it. He fixed his friend with his best practiced evil glare, pulled his goggles over his eyes, and tried to take a nap. Penny should have never gotten hurt in the first place, and turning Johnny Snow over to the airport security guards was hardly a _favour_.

* * *

**AN:** How have I always read "cryo" as "cyro" up until now? Bizarre.

Thanks for pointing that little fumble out, Quercus.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The main doors to the hospital lobby flew open; this would not perhaps have been the most abnormal event of the day if they weren't of the revolving variety. The destruction was quickly overlooked and forgiven when the staff and visitors recognized the dramatic new arrival, it had been two weeks after his last public appearance. A happy buzz of excitement greeted the dark-haired, blue eyed, sculpted superhero, which he merely waved away.

A tiny, sickly boy ran up to him, tugging at the leg of his heavy woven cargo pants. He recoiled from the contact, then covered with a smile. "I'm sorry, no autographs today. No pen, you see."

"But I have a pen," the boy objected, and was ignored.

"Captain Hammer!" hailed the receptionist as he approached the information desk, though she would have hardly needed the insignia on his tight black t-shirt to identify him. She was fanning herself with one hand and playing with her wavy blond hair with the other, a certain coyness about her lips. "How are you feeling today?"

He shifted his weight and jerked his head impressively to look at her, his teeth shining brilliant white as he raked his fingers through his hair. "Why, I'm perfect."

She just about fainted, her coworkers rushing over to catch her. "You bet your ass you are," one of the women who came to her aid murmured, eyeing his backside appreciatively as he walked by.

"_**It's harder than it seems  
having this physique  
Being made of dreams****  
means attention's always piqued  
You're wonderin' what I'm doin' here  
Is there something wrong?  
I assure you my screaming throng  
There's nothing to fear**_

_**Hospitals really aren't so scary  
I mean they've got hot nurses and stuff  
I don't have to be, at all wary  
because I'm buff!  
Hospitals really aren't so scary  
In their own kinda scary way…**_

_**Look at these fists!  
I've really got some clout  
I can punch the lights out  
Of any doctors who insist  
So I'll wave to all my fans  
Remind myself I'm awesome  
There's no playing opossum  
When you can do push-ups without hands  
**_

_**Hospitals really aren't so scary  
Even though they're not very cool  
I am not a freak, they're just all geeks  
I beat them up when I was in school  
Hospitals really aren't so scary  
Every doctor isn't out for blood…"**_

The superhero realized unhappily he had reached his destination, and mentally rhymed with an epithet. He cast around for some reason that he could delay going in and facing the judgment, prodding, and mind games of all the scientists/doctors/nerds. There was a surprising, but satisfactory one. "Penny!" The girl looked up from the papers she had been examining, beamed, and the nurse (unfortunately not one of the hot ones) wheeled her chair over. She was a sweet girl, and an amazing cook; the best and only girlfriend he ever had longer than a night. "What are you doing here?"

Penny stared at him blankly for a few moments, blinking, before deciding he was asking why she was in this particular wing of the hospital. "Just passing through. They're going to test me one more time to make sure my heart can handle walking before I'm discharged today."

Captain Hammer nodded absently, his pleasant expression frozen while his mind wandered. Women talked a lot. His eyes fell upon the IV's in her hand. Ew, needles. Quickly, he tried to refocus his attention on his safe spot, his favourite part of the female anatomy, but discovered a distracting scar peeking out of her hospital gown instead. "I'm going to be late for an appointment," Hammer told her, disturbed, "I should go."

"Wait, I wanted to ask you," she interjected, "They say that you're Dr. Horrible's nemesis, do you know why –"

"Don't worry your pretty head," he reassured her, patting her condescendingly on top of it, "I'll find him and make him pay." He wedged himself through the door and shut it behind him, congratulating himself on his escape before remembering he'd hadn't wanted to go into his therapist's office in the first place.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - -

Apprehensively, Moist cracked the door; the apartment didn't look that much worse than it had in the morning, so that was a good sign. "Sorry, it's kind of a mess."

"I know," the hooded, robed woman stated calmly, stepping past. Hourglass stopped abruptly, and Moist was familiar enough with her understated reactions to interpret her flat expression as taken aback, despite having already experienced the moment.

A box of prototypes retrieved from storage was turned over on the floor, a vaguely cleared pathway the only consideration given to movement through the mess. Wires had been carried up onto the computer desk, joining piles of notes, schematics, and the occasional bubbling beaker. Vanilla wafers were spilled all over the counter, an impromptu meal interrupted by scrawled equations on a nearby abandoned napkin.

Moist was relieved the scientist had merely fallen over asleep while reading on the vinyl couch. Yesterday, after trying to warm and subsequently incinerating a bowl of leftover soup, he'd found the Doc hiding on the roof with the pretense of hacking satellites, looking strangely sunburnt. A few false starts involving magnetrons later, he finally got the full story.

Apparently, the microwave could now broil a steak in less than two seconds. Moist also learned that under no circumstances should a mad scientist houseguest ever be allowed to become bored.

The timetraveler set aside her namesake instrument and helped herself to some of the scattered cookies. Huh, he hadn't known she ever put the hourglass down. Or ate.

Morbidly curious, he tugged free the research journal Horrible was studying. An article on parapsychic phenomena dampening by a not-so-subtle P Normal was now literally damp. "Genius never rests," Moist muttered, quoting his friend ironically.

This was sufficient to wake the genius in question up. "Hmm? Oh," the Doc brightened after a few bleary seconds trying to remember where he was. "Hey man. Guess what? I think I've got the kinks in my LAG device just about sorted out. If I define the origin as a _volume_ the user shouldn't be affected anymore!"

Moist glanced over at the timekeeper, who was frowning in mild disapproval. "Hourglass is here." The Doc sat up quickly; Hourglass actually waved a little from the counter at them. Last time she'd seen Dr. Horrible, she'd given him a lecture about recklessly altering time streams that had lamentably been ignored.

The scientist was looking back and forth between the two of them, and Moist dragged his friend out onto the fire escape, not wanting to be betrayed by the Doc's slowly growing grin. "You? And Hourglass? Nice!"

"It's not like that," Moist protested.

Horrible just laughed. "Sure. Seriously, dude, you're always going to see her, she's always talking to you about the future, I'm amazed I didn't figure it out sooner."

"It's not, I mean, she's not even a villainness or a henchwoman or anything," Moist argued lamely, realizing belatedly that he was talking to entirely the wrong person about that. "She called me earlier today and said it was urgent. I had to cancel with Switch."

Multiple questions and alarm flashed across blue eyes in quick succession, and Moist understood completely. He'd been sweating buckets today himself. "You," the Doc was a couple pitches higher than usual; he looked around like he was afraid of being overheard, and lowered his voice. "You asked her out again?"

Switch's newest victim shifted his weight uneasily. "She asked me. Didn't leave any room for refusal."

"I'll bet," Horrible grimaced.

"But," the henchman added hopefully, "The ELE and the city agreed to declare Hourglass a neutral entity, she'll be safe. Besides, Bait and Switch are too busy working for Fury Leika now to bother, anyway."

His friend's expression went from 'you're going to end up on a dominatrix torture table if you're not careful, buddy' to barely concealed panic. "Fury Leika?" Following a few paralyzed moments of indecision, the Doc jumped over the railing and started climbing down the fire escape ladder. "I think I'll go ahead and give you and Hourglass some time alone. See ya!"

Moist shook his head, hoping the villain remembered to change out of uniform before too long, then shrugged and headed back in to find out why Hourglass had wanted to see him. Gift, Bad Horse, mouth, as the saying went.

* * *

**AN: **Sorry about the lyrics again. I used "Everyone's a hero" as kind of a contrast between the original song and Hammer singing about being creeped out by hospitals. I hope next time to write original rhythm patterns, otherwise I'll never get better. I also hope Hammer is in character and not too ridiculous, it's harder than I anticipated to write him as likable.

Technically I have this whole story planned out, and this subplot with Moist does have some importance (Yay Moist! Sidekicks need luffs too), so thanks for bearing with me. I combined these two parts into one chapter because I feel like I've been keeping everyone waiting, so next chapter hopefully you'll all get a treat.

For those of you looking for more Dr. Horrible fanfics, I wanted to mention that there's a whole bunch on livejournal that I read. One of them, Aporia by automotivesmile, has something very similar to the Little Altered-time-field Generator device, for anyone who's curious.

Lastly, yay for having a community here. :)


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Recently, the aspiring villain had been experiencing an alarming trend of victories that really felt like failures. Positives: he had wonderflonium in hand (enough to power thirty seconds of altered time) a change of clothing, and all of his extremities were intact. Based on those factors and a percentage of goals achieved, he normally would have called his heist successful.

Negatives: the uncomfortable steps in front of the homeless shelter, the death threats in bullets on his apartment walls, and the fact that technically he was stealing from _himself _were all slightly less than heartening circumstances.

The biggest issue was the impending doom. Most failed ELE applicants had their submissions returned unopened, but the rare candidate who had more potential (was more threatening) required a _spectacular_ rejection. The underworld still whispered about Electric Death's eponymous end. He didn't want his to be Horrible, flattering as it was to be considered worth the effort.

So he had a plan, complete with gaping holes and general insanity. He'd meet up with Moist and Hourglass, gear up, and sometime around nightfall find the League before they found him. His inventions were… mostly ready. As ready as everything was going to get, he was out of time. They were coming for him, at any moment they might…

"Didn't get that job after all, huh?" It was a measure of his anxiety that he didn't immediately recognize her voice, but the cement banister did a good job of aborting his adrenalin-fueled sideways leap. Penny gazed at him, bemused, from where she'd sat down beside him, then saddened. "Oh. I thought you were just sitting here. I didn't mean…"

He stopped her, guilt rebelling at the thought that she should _ever_ have to apologize to him. "No, no, I'm okay. I hurt…" He choked up but tried again, staring at his sneakers. "I mean, I heard you were in the hospital." His eyes flicked back her way, and she was taken aback by their intensity. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

After a few moments, Penny her lips curved up soothingly and she rested her hand between his shoulders. "It's not your fault, silly."

He tried not to notice how vividly red the top she was wearing was; it was too easy to remember it as blood. The little circles her fingers were tracing made a welcome distraction. Shakily, he forced himself to make conversation. "They let you out kind of soon, didn't they? I mean, in cases like yours, they're supposed to monitor your heart for a month."

The volunteer regarded him with some surprise, then shrugged. "I was doing well, so I can work at the homeless shelter again. Have to keep them updated is all." Her hand slid away as she leaned forward to catch the sunlight on her face. "I'm glad to be back."

While he couldn't disagree with her happiness, he quietly disapproved of the hasty release. In fact, he didn't like that he hadn't performed the operation to save her himself, that someone else had fixed her heart. He had to remind himself it had been better that way. His hands had been shaking too much, he was too emotionally invested, and besides, he would have to have torn open her blouse and…

He quickly quashed that train of thought before she could notice the blush.

"You know medicine?" she wondered curiously.

"A-a little. More science in general. I'm an inventor," he stuttered humbly, then, with a touch of pride, "but I do have a PhD."

Her green eyes appraised him, and she made a little awed sound. Penny was impressed! He was doing cartwheels in his head, punctuated by the occasional back flip, and almost missed the rest of her response. "You should look at the thing that saved me sometime, no one can make heads or tails of it." She hesitated. "Actually, none of it makes much sense," she confided. "Why would Dr. Horrible save me? I'm trying to figure it out."

He smirked. "Probably realized you could make him lick your shoes if you wanted to." She jokingly flexed an arm, and he laughed, momentarily forgetting everything he ever learned about evil vocal conditioning. It felt surprisingly good.

Penny beamed at him. "Thanks for visiting me at the hospital, by the way. It's nice to know you were there, even if it was only by frozen yogurt calling card."

That had been hard, seeing her lying there almost lifeless. He winced. "I should have gone back to see you... There was a fire at my apartment, though. Kinda gutted the place."

Her expression faded immediately to concern, and he wished he hadn't said anything. She cast a side glance towards the doors of the homeless shelter, before settling back on him. "Do you have anyone you can stay with? Friends? Family?"

He snorted scornfully. "Family, yeah right."

Penny was staring at him. Too dark. "Sorry," he apologized, brushing aside the past. "I actually was staying with a friend of mine, but he's got all this relationship stuff going on now." He sighed. "You know how it is," he explained miserably, "Guy likes girl, time passes, someone else comes along, and then it all seems too late."

She nodded, and looked down at her hands clasped in her lap. "That sounds like someone I know," she said, her voice quiet. "There's this great guy she met, but she got involved with someone else and she doesn't know if that's working out anymore."

The silence stretched out between them, begging for interruption. "Penny! Hey, Penny!"

"I should probably go check in." Penny brushed off her jeans and fixed her little short sleeved floral jacket, her eyes drifting towards the building behind them. "Would you like a tour?" She held out a hand, inviting.

It would feel too much like sacrilege, entering the grounds where she'd been hurt, and he knew Captain Hammer's smarmy voice all too well. He stood also. "I should go. But thanks. Some other day, maybe."

Her smile shrunk a bit, then broadened, and she waved before walking away. He watched her, entranced by the way her hair swished like she was skipping.

Right. He had to call Moist. Where was his phone again? Oh yeah, pocket… Where it always was.

"I'm going to protect her."

He whirled around; there was Captain Hammer, glaring down at him. No smug arrogance this time, only narrowed, wary eyes and deadly seriousness. The two sized each other up; he didn't have a chance without his guns, and his nemesis couldn't attack a defenseless, ordinary looking citizen without the press returning the favour.

Their confrontation was vicious nonetheless, the accusations and grudges flying at him sharp enough to have skewered anyone who ever got between them. He suddenly felt very tired. He'd done this before, and it hadn't gone well. "You do that," he muttered, and turned on his heel, storming off and leaving behind a troubled superhero.

* * *

**AN:** So there we go, hope you all enjoy Billy/Penny squee-ness as much as I do. And a wiser Captain Hammer with his priorities right! He can't be a jerkwad all the time, or the media wouldn't think he's such a great hero.

I'm not sure how I'm going to divide up the next few chapters exactly, but I think there's going to be lyrics in the next one. It may take me a little bit longer to write it.

Update: In addition to the lyrics issue, which actually look like they might be in the chapter after next, I started doing a big revamp of my upcoming plans... But! I think I've just about got them fixed, so I think writting can now recommence.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

If any of the loading dock workers had looked closely, they might have wondered why someone was having a conversation with the crate on his hand truck. As it was, the supervisor needed only to check a list of scheduled deliveries and their end destination to gain entry into a vacant corridor, all stark white and steel-reinforced concrete.

Pausing and looking wistfully back at the door they'd come in, the hulking henchman clenched the trolley handles tighter, missing his trademark pink boxing gloves and mask. "Can't I go back and punch just one?"

The crate moaned despondently. "I think Moist says 'no.'"

Pink Pummeler mustered up his most persuasive argument. "Pleeeease?"

The other henchman was nervous enough _without_ having to fight through security that condensation was sticking to the outside of the box. Inside, there was a very real threat of drowning. Horrible chose not to acknowledge the excess humidity (partially for the sake of his own sanity), but he really wanted to hurry this up. "More walking and less lingering for the security cameras. Thanks."

"_Fine_," the muscle of the operation huffed, continuing to push them towards their destination. Pummeler eyed the cameras back. "And I thought you were gonna shut those down."

He _was…_ but there was no need to tell his friends that the EMP pulse from his pocket power-outage had just fizzled and knocked _itself_ offline. "Um. Moist. Think you can short circuit the surveillance system from in here?"

"Really?"

The tone of the question was as close to 'kid in candy store' enthusiasm as Moist ever got, and the scientist smiled in spite of himself. "Yeah, go for it."

No fireworks or sparks announced the success, but the blinking lights dimmed and the cameras stopped moving. If the override to access the vault failed, the scientist reasoned to himself, they could try the same tactic.

Fortunately, his inventions worked that time, and Dr. Horrible climbed out of their hiding spot with slightly boosted confidence, even as he wrung the excess water out of his clothes. Hmm. He hoped that wouldn't be problematic.

"So… Now what?" Moist asked, leaning half out of the box himself. The other two would be heading back soon, after enough time had passed to trick anyone paying close enough attention into thinking more had been removed from the crate.

The other vault they were about to break into, the real target, was fairly impossible to approach, and was protected by counters against every technology and superpower known to humankind.

It was also directly beneath them. "We burn through the floor," Dr. Horrible grinned, and raised his hand in what he hoped was a dramatic gesture, pulling something that that looked like a particularly fearsome hot glue gun out of thin air. "Fixed the trans-matter problem," he explained before his astounded friends even had a chance to ask, tapping the gadget proudly. "Molecular spatial cataloging to control the end arrangement, see? It worked so well with the Death Ray that I…" The manic glee bled away and he trailed off, his eyes focused somewhere beyond the metal walls.

He turned away abruptly and pointed the gun to the ground, scowling. Behind his back, the Pink Pummeler exchanged a concerned glance with Moist, who just shook his head.

Apparently, the Death Ray could kill conversations.

A few minutes passed marked only by the sizzle of melting steel, and then the strongest of the three thieves pulled away the resulting circle. Dr. Horrible cracked a couple of glow sticks and dropped them down into the space underneath, illuminating a mess of cables and microchips.

He smirked. _Found you_.

"Can we grab some of this money on our way out?" Pummeler asked hopefully.

The scientist blinked, taking a more careful inventory of their surroundings; he hadn't even noticed the bags of money lining the shelves. After some consideration, he gave a curt bob of his head. "Yeah, you both should get _some _compensation out of this." He started to climb down, then shot his eager friends a warning look. "Just don't get caught. I need enough time to download the data I came for."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Police sirens screamed in the distance as the cars pulled up screeching to the front of the bank. The two henchmen watched the chaos sheepishly, leaning against the getaway van. "Wish I hadn't slipped up back in there."

"Well, he'll figure something out. Or we can post bail with the money," Pummeler reasoned, though he sounded a bit disappointed about the second option. "Speaking of which, think I'm gonna bail here myself."

The passenger side door of the van slammed, and they both jumped; Moist quickly caught himself before he slid gracelessly to the ground. "Tiresome, waiting," Hourglass informed them. She retrieved Moist's cell phone as it started to ring, and placed it into the other henchman's big hands.

Moist wasn't surprised to discover his scientist friend somehow had service, even surrounded by three feet of metal and twenty feet underground. Pummeler put the call on speaker.

The greeting was casual and unhurried, no hint of alarm (or alarms) whatsoever. "Moist! PP! You two get out okay?"

"Sort of. We didn't get caught, but the cops came," Moist cautioned.

His friend hummed at the information like the LAPD between him and his freedom were only so many ant-like black specks on his whiteboard. "I'm pretty much done. Let me just get a partial backup and I'll be right there."

"Ignored," Hourglass sighed as Moist repeated himself, trying to pierce through whatever scientific distraction had the Doc's full attention. He heard the dial tone before he could even say 'police.'

At length, the Pink Pummeler shrugged his big shoulders. "Hey, you coming to Conflict Diamond's party this weekend?" A hopeful, dreamy expression passed over the larger man's features. "I think they're having those little smoked hotdog appetizers."

Moist shifted uncomfortably, and recovered his balance again. "Ehh, probably not. He'll invite Bait, and I don't want to run into Switch."

Pummeler remembered that incarceration was half a block away, and forgot Hourglass was standing beside them. "Well, don't sweat it too much" – Moist groaned inwardly at the tired old joke – "Switch will probably find someone else before then, anyway. Later."

"She does," Hourglass agreed. Did she actually sound amused? Prescience was so unfair. The timetraveler tilted her head back and watched a cloud drift backwards across the sky. Her voice hardened, and her informal half-sentences gave way to an important announcement. "This is the last time your friend gets to manipulate the time streams for his personal benefit."

Earlier, she explained haltingly to him that in order to tell them _then_ what bank to rob _now_, she had to come along to see it happen. Otherwise, there would have been a paradox. She had not approved, but the risk of universal destruction forced her to agree.

As seldom as the Doc and Hourglass saw eye to eye, Moist thought they did have one thing in common. Every now and then, when they talked to him, his brain would try to make a run for it out his ears.

"3:17 pm," she stated, and from behind them came an alarming noise like an electrical discharge.

This time, the startled henchman fell, and from his new position on the ground he watched his friend stagger towards him with one hand braced against the van, paler and twitchier than usual. The scientist muttered something unhappily about trans-matter events, defibrillation, and necessary risks. Moist decided not to ask. "You get your data?"

At the question, Dr. Horrible seemed to pull himself together, thought for a few moments, then smiled triumphantly. "I have it, yes. Ready Moist? I need to make one more stop today."

* * *

**AN:** So hey! I made update day after all. Three weeks later…

Punctuality is problematic. Invent _time machine._

Oh, I've got to thank CaffeineKitty for this one. A Henchman's Lot (newest installment in a series) gave me the inspiration to smooth out one last snag. Water and electrical systems. I could hug you.

This may read a little disconnected, I didn't have much time tonight to read it over, and some things I felt more like implying than straight out saying.

About the Death Ray comment in the first part: during the song 'Slipping' in the musical, the Death Ray kind of just appears, and this is in reference to that.

**Update:** It's Monday evening, and as you can see, LACK OF ONE. I hate excuses as much as I hate disappointing, so I'll just say that this week looks to be more productive in the writting department. Thanks again for your patience, sorry again for the wait.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Only minutes ago, Penny had been clinging to the back of the Hammercycle as the hero careened towards a super-meeting he had been called to attend. As she boarded the elevator under the insistence of one of the two women who had greeted them, she decided the ascent was more nerve wracking than that reckless race through the streets.

She wondered how it didn't bother her, how that Amazon in black leather with dark promising eyes had stolen him away. It wasn't trust; she knew his reputation, and she also knew her own history with relationships.

Something was wrong with the situation, maybe the concealed malice of Captain Hammer's escort, maybe the not-quite-friendly smile and innocent façade of the blonde girl next to her, making promises that the supers just wanted to talk to her about Dr. Horrible. Common sense told Penny to run, and she didn't know why she hadn't already. She shifted uncomfortably. "He's a villain, isn't he?" The elevator chimed and both girls stepped off. Her voice dropped to almost a whisper. "Like you."

The blonde whipped her head up, eyes piercing as they searched her for judgment or non-compliance. Penny merely fell into step, docile, allowing herself to be herded past an inexplicable trio of rowdy cowboys and deeper into trouble. Outwardly calm, her heart rate increased every step, and the predator smiled at her knowingly. "Judging by his blog and his last monumental screw up, not really." Penny blinked. There was a blog?

They stopped in front of two looming wooden doors. "By the way, I'm Bait." The villainess' smile curved up wickedly. "Like in a trap." Understandably nervous, Penny nodded bravely, and entered the darkness.

Silence closed around her, then a psychedelic, hypnotic burst of colour dazzled her, accompanied by a slow discordant riff from an electric guitar. The lights rose and shadows detached from the wall, turning into six strangely dressed individuals and a horse moving towards a table in the middle of the conference room.

_**When silhouettes fall, our voices are there  
A sinister call, through the cracks in society  
The taint and the pall, a feeling disquieting  
We'll show you it all, step into our lair**_

_This is freedom's key  
Sweetest depravity_

_Just one taste  
of man's  
unfair  
cruelty  
poison laced  
Unleash the _**fury**

_Here is our declaration  
Of our ill intentions_

_**Poor little dear, so gentle and sweet****  
Now that you're here, in the lions' den****  
Our target is near, failed once again  
Punishment severe, his final defeat**_

_And you'll trick  
the two  
you're torn  
between  
Face the music  
Let it_** scream**

_This will be history __**(and so are you!)  
**We are the ELE!_

Penny was promptly ushered into an adjacent office after the supervillain musical number, presumably to wait for whoever would come to her rescue. She tried to frown, feeling rather lost, and knew it came out a bemused pout instead.

"Umm…" She jumped; the young man crouched in the corner beside her stared back at her from behind his goggles. Dr. Horrible, she recognized. "What are you doing here?" he asked finally, straightening, keeping quiet. He sounded curious, genuinely concerned for her, and oh so familiar.

He seemed more gaunt than she remembered, or maybe he had always been starving in some indescribable way that she simply never noticed. Penny remembered screams, a dangerous weapon, desperate blue eyes. His name caught in her throat; if she said it, it would become real.

Her eyes dropped to his hand, to another bulky gun, and she stepped back, eyes widening. Following her gaze, he startled and shook his head frantically. "I-I'm not going to hurt you. I never meant to…" The man had who nearly killed her stopped, tilted his head towards the ceiling, and recollected himself. "Why are you here?" he repeated, looking back down, "You shouldn't be here."

"Bait," she answered warily, finding her voice.

He tensed, glancing towards the door and the other villains behind it. "Ah." His voice was, if anything, softer. "I guess I'm not delivering my ultimatum in person, then." Penny gave no reply, but he seemed to hear her confusion anyway. "We need to get out of here. Work together?"

She couldn't argue with that. Tentatively, she put her hand into his outstretched one, and he gave her an equally nervous smile, before turning her palm up and pressing the gun he was carrying into it. "Billy!" she gasped, appalled, fumbling to not drop the clunky weapon as he draped his labcoat over her shoulders and lowered his goggles over her eyes.

"Just a Stun Ray," he assured her, passing her his gloves and working on pulling off his boots. "Shoot anyone who threatens you." Billy sheepishly raised his hands and stepped back to admire his handiwork; the disguise was definitely too big for her, but looked adorable on her anyway. "And not your hostage, please."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - -

The leather-clad woman squirmed against the improvised restraints, then sighed. "I'm going to punish you for this," she informed him, sultry, her eyes smoldering.

"Sweetheart, you villain types always say that," Captain Hammer replied, crouching down to secure one of the knots better as she rolled her eyes half-heartedly at the insincere term of endearment. "That's my line. Being, you know, the superhero and all."

"I can't wait."

He gave her a peck on her cheek. "Too bad."

The day won, Captain Hammer exited the broom closet and headed towards the lobby where he'd left his girlfriend, enjoying the satisfaction of outsmarting another evil-doer. His critics were always bashing him for acting instead of thinking, but no one could deny that he at least knew his business very, very well.

When he saw Penny there, heading for the doors, he had the same initial reaction of uneasy disdain as when he saw any scientist, but at a glance at her auburn hair and the man she was herding before her, the superhero understood immediately.

"Good job, girl," he stepped up behind her and whispered, before knocking Dr. Horrible into a wall. The villain crumpled, pulverized bits of marble showering down around his still form.

"I warned you," Captain Hammer told the unconscious man. Two weeks ago, the superhero had felt fear and pain for the first time in his life, and there was only one way to make sure it never happened again. He grabbed the mad scientist by the throat and lifted him up against a decorative column effortlessly. Penny made some sort of noise behind him, no doubt amazed by his strength, and he smiled and squeezed a little tighter. "You should have pulled that trigger when you had the chance."

A strangled choke escaped from Dr. Horrible, followed by a strange high-pitched technological whine. Suddenly feeling like his nerves had been dunked in cold water, Captain Hammer swayed and collapsed to the ground. What was happening? He was vaguely aware of Penny, faithful girl, lifting his head… Laying him aside… Helping the groggy villain stand up…

Wait.

Shot. He'd been shot.

She _shot_ him. With one of those inventions…

The fear he'd been trying to escape rose up; he waited for the pain to come. She mirrored his expression of shock and fear, his 'I can't believe it,' hers 'me neither.'

His enemy, his _nemesis_, that _poisonous snake_, gently took Penny's arm, told her the effects would only last a few minutes. She slowly tore her eyes away from him, but even as she was led away, she continued to try to seek him out.

Dr. Horrible gazed worriedly at the girl, and dared to look back at the motionless, helpless superhero too, with something like remembrance and regret. Pity from a villain, just what he wanted. What else could go wrong?

The dusky beauty from earlier, having freed herself from bondage, took this opportunity to lean over him and plant a mischievous kiss on his own cheek.

* * *

**AN:** Lyrics. Unfortunately. I tried to slip in a little reference for each of the ELE's top villains, but Tie Die was tricky, and Professor Normal adamantly refused to offer anything.

…They serve the purpose… I guess. Once again, pointers or suggestions are appreciated.

I confess to watching episodes of Firefly for the first time recently, and going on a ravenous fanfic reading binge. Is it entirely wrong that, in my head, Switch looked like Inara for this chapter?

We're wrapping this up. I think I might even be able to get the Epilogue out tonight.


	8. Epilogue

Epilogue

_From: falling-into-place  
To: thoroughbredofsin; Xx-Crushed-Roses-xX; necromantic; VENOMOUS; flowergrrrl; PNormal; PainsofEvilsNeverHappened  
Subject: Musical chairs (and stolen mainframe files!)  
Attachments: LAnbank12; planget_

_Hey, I heard about all your organization's recent technical difficulties. Complete data wipe, huh? Wow._

_Just thought you might appreciate the attached file so you all can go ahead with your upcoming crime this weekend. The formatting is a little weird, because I had to upload it from my own system, but it works on most of the word processors I've tested it on. _

_Oh! And if you need to recover anything else, check out Door # 2 for instructions. There'll be more released, depending on importance and viable timeframes, and you wouldn't want the heroes to get their hands on them first. No siree._

_Also, you might want to check out my blog this week. I'm doing a demonstration on my newest development: Neural Nanocomputer Integration. I'm really excited about the possibilities, the only downside is that a bullet to the head loses all those precious ones and zeroes. Glad I'm not dying any time soon._

_Byeeee_

_Dr. Horrible_

_P.S. Threaten or hurt her again, ever, in ANY way, and I'll erase ALL of it, then all of YOU._

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - -

Apparently Captain Hammer had broken up with Penny, but his nemesis was watching the news broadcast from the top of his clothes dryer with increasing irritation. Did the narcissist have to lay on the cat-and-mouse flirtation with Switch on so thick? Maybe Moist had benefited from the change, and he was glad for that, but the overly public displays between the hero and the villainess were honestly making him ill. Especially considering how Penny had seemed so devastated by the ordeal.

He hadn't seen her since, and he couldn't blame her for it. Two people she had really trusted had suddenly become lies. Maybe it was for the best, as much as he wished he could be there for her. Even though the dangerous situation with the ELE was now under control, she'd been dragged into that once already.

The former masterminds were still squabbling for position, years of backstabbing and world-conquering ambitions finally out in the open. It didn't matter to Dr. Horrible which of them got the plans he scattered their way, only that their attempts to undermine each other and claim the files for themselves kept them too busy to look his way. His continued existence depended on the Evil League's lack thereof.

It was kind of a new age, for both upcoming villains and heroes. There were no schedules to keep anymore, no heavy hooved control over who got to do what and how. Opportunities were more equally distributed, instead of the most notorious villains automatically getting the most prestigious jobs.

Of course, some villains and henchmen missed the security, and with the underworld as fond of wild parties as ever, rumours had spread quickly that were uncomfortably close to the truth. No one had the guts yet to go after the man who had taken down the League, but without the stagnant bureaucracy, people had gotten bolder.

The mainstream media also somehow had gotten a whiff of the blood in the water. He liked being portrayed as a misunderstood genius about as much as the other villains did. He was Dr. _Horrible_. His name said it all.

He winced. He'd always had an audience, even his first posting had attracted attention, but… He had fans now. Real, obsessive, shirt wearing fans, who thought he was some sort of altruistic outlaw_._ Their mistaken admiration was just beyond his capacity for comprehension.

"Billy?"

After making a suitably embarrassing spectacle of himself in front of everyone in the laundromat, he picked himself off the floor and climbed back up the side of the machine, peeking over the edge. There she was, waiting patiently for him and obviously trying very hard not to laugh. He coloured. "Do you like sneaking up on me or something?"

Penny nodded, her expression warm, the corners of her lips fighting against a near irresistible upward pull. "Mm hmm."

Maybe it was all right then. So long as she kept looking at him that way.

He resettled onto his perch with whatever shreds remained of his dignity, and she hopped up next to him, fidgeting for a few awkward moments with the hem of her skirt. "I saw your blog."

He felt like he'd been punched. What did that mean? Well, it was obvious what it meant, but what did she mean _by_ it? Was she upset? She sounded casual, like his deepest, most secret hopes and dreams were just idle chit-chat. "O-oh," he managed.

Her green eyes softened, and she smiled, really smiled, and held out a cup of frozen yogurt to him.

-Fin-

**A.N.** That's all, folks!

This is my first time finishing anything like this, so once again, I'd like to thank you all for your patience and support. I'm not much of a writer of stories, and less so a writer of songs, and I think over the past couple of months I've made that woefully apparent.

But, out of love for the same characters I love, you guys stuck with me, and I'm grateful.

I've still got a few ideas for some drabbles here, but aside from that I'll be taking a break from writing. But I'll still be reading, so I hope to see you all around.


End file.
